PUBLICATION · 2026
Typography · Editorial · Music
An editorial and typographic exploration showcasing a collection of 36 vinyl records across six different genres. It features spreads on specific albums, providing background information on the artists and tracks, alongside gallery spreads that group various albums by genre.
Process
01 — Field Research
The intention behind this project was to work with the typography around us in our daily lives. I focused my project on typography-based album covers curated from a local vinyl record store in Vancouver.
Material references became the foundation of the Tide palette.
02 — Layout Inspiration
At this point I was settled on wanting to create a coffee table style book. I then reached for books on the music industry and record design. This step is crucial to my design process, especially when I am doing a project on a new field I am unfamiliar with.
Typography and movement establish a shifting shoreline rhythm.
03 — Data Organization
After settling on the style of the book, I moved on figuring out the content and how to lay it out. I created a spreadsheet to organize the albums I was working with by genre, singer, release year, designer of the cover, etc. in order to decide how these would be displayed on the book.
A flexible system carries from print to screen.
04 — Cover Sketches
The concept for the book was to present it as an actual vinyl record. It includes a sleeve (album cover), that holds the book inside. The book cover resembles a record, with the title placed on the inside—just like a real vinyl. This ties together the consistent theme across the project.
Early references locate the project’s point of view.
05 — Master Spread
Creating parent spreads is the starting point for all my editorial design projects. It allows me to explore different concepts early on, and once finalized, ensures consistency throughout the document while making the design process more efficient. These pages formed the foundation of the book’s structure.
Prototype studies test pace, scale, and material presence.
06 — Sleeve Design
To make the sleeve resemble a real album cover, I listed the featured artists in the book as if they were a track list on the back of the sleeve. For the front, I used images from my field research to create a vibrant collage.
Final applications bring the work into public view.